Buy The Stars
by IcedChaiChibi
Summary: Victoria's a very pleasant morning person...pleasant like a snowball to the face. A snowball that's somehow on fire.


(A/N; I love Ms. Grant...she's an awesome lady and I admire a fellow history buff, same goes for Hayden plus let's be honest the dude is pretty Cute...Please excuse any inconsistencies or spelling errors...So tired...so sleepy...)

One Shot...

I had been woken up at somewhere around 5:30-6am, aka the crack of dawn, to help assist in some preparations for the Vortex Club Party.

I suspected Victoria had something to do with it, considering the look she gave me as we passed in the hallway, I sighed and made my way towards the exit and hefted my bag over my shoulder, careful not to jostle it too much.

As I reached the door, Ms. Grant opened it and I jumped in surprise, she smiled apologetically.

"I'm sorry Max, I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's fine, good morning Ms. Grant."

"Good morning to you as well...Max, I'm looking for Victoria, have you seen her this morning? I know it's early but..."

I looked around, peeking around the corner at the bathroom then back down the hall towards Victoria's room and saw a silhouette briefly pass by the small opening in the door.

"I think she's still in her room." I offered and pointed down the hallway.

Nodding her thanks, she walked calmly up to Victoria's door and gently knocked, the door opened a moment later and the two women began talking.

I couldn't hear their conversation but suddenly Victoria was glowering at Ms. Grant and as soon as the woman turned and began making her way back towards me, Victoria threw a fit.

"Are you kidding? No way am I doing that! Do you have any idea what time it is?!"

Ms. Grant wasn't phased by the outburst, and calmly replied,

"I'm aware of how early it is, however it's your club and it was you and Nathan who were so insistent to Mr. Jefferson, Principle Wells and I that this party was necessary, even with the events that have only just taken place. And it's not like you'll be working alone, there are plenty of other students involved, Ms. Caulfield is even helping and she's not even a member. And the sooner you finish the sooner you can go back to bed and sleep, but with the two of you working together you should be done in no time."

Wait what? Together? With Victoria? Oh no, please no...the furious look on Victoria's face made me want to run, and before either of could of us could protest Ms. Grant had already left.

Before I could react Victoria had grabbed my arm and pulled me outside and up to the building where the party would be held at, needless to say I almost tripped keeping up with her and as we entered the building Victoria released me and suddenly stopped which almost made me bump into her.

"Listen carefully Caulfield, once we get in there you don't talk to me- don't even look at me. Understand?..."

She didn't wait for me to respond and walked on ahead, I took a look around to see if there were any familiar faces, I noticed Dana and Juliet at one end of the room, both of which I waved to, aside from them the only face that stood out was Hayden whom was holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender as Victoria was talking to him, or should I say, yelling at him?

The moment I approached them she shot me one final Glare before storming off, a slightly Crumpled piece of paper in one hand.

"Morning, Hayden."

Hayden turned and smiled politely, "If it isn't the selfie queen of Blackwell! I almost didn't believe Ms. Grant when she told me I'd be expecting you. Reconsidering joining the vortex Club?..."

"Helping out was...a last minute decision. And yeah, You could say that- I noticed you were the only guy here, is the struggle real?..."

"It's very real, but I'll manage. Regardless of whether or not it was planned I appreciate the help Max, half the people who were supposed to help ended up opting out. And by that I mean they left, they're busy, they didn't want to come or they barricaded themselves in their rooms to avoid being pulled out of bed..." Saying this, Hayden pulled out his phone to show me a picture, said picture was of a boy literally backing his mattress up against his bedroom door.

"You weren't kidding..."

Hayden shook his head and put his phone back in his pocket, "I guess some people really aren't morning people. Hopefully we'll get all this set up before classes start, maybe we can all get a little more shut eye in..." With that Hayden gave me my orders and sent me away, which I finished earlier than expected so I ended up helping him organize some things.

But soon more people came and Hayden excused himself but not before giving me 'permission' to leave and telling me to 'Go back to dreaming of otters'...I think he was trying to be clever with the phrase about dreaming of sheep or counting sheep or something but...it was too early in the morning to be clever.

I had to be stealthy in my escape to avoid Victoria who was currently either texting or playing on her phone, she didn't strike me as an angry birds or clash of clans type of Girl so I guessed she was texting Nathan.

The moment I got outside I looked up at the sky to see if it had gotten any lighter but it hadn't, but there was a trace of stars.

Instead of Going back to Sleep like a normal person I walked around the side of the building and walked along the wall until I was far enough away so that I wouldn't be easily spotted by Victoria if she walked out and so I could also listen to my music and have it not be heard.

After shining my phone around to make sure I wouldn't be sitting in any mud, I laid back on the cool grass and popped my earbuds in, taking my camera out of my bag before using the bag itself as a pillow and carefully setting my camera aside so it wouldn't be damaged and then closed my eyes and let my mind go blank as I listened to my music, I was glad I wore a hoodie this morning, for several minutes it was all peaceful and I was toasty in my hoodie...then I felt someone's presence nearby. This had to be Victoria. I didn't bother opening my eyes or getting up, although I did turn off my music.

"I don't want to fight Victoria..."

"Max, what are you doing? You should be in your dorm..."

That wasn't Victoria. My eyes immediately shot open and when I saw who was standing over me my heart jumped into my throat. With the combination of the natural darkness of the night casting eerie shadows over his figure and the light from my phones screen lighting up his face in a low illumination, Mark Jefferson looked terrifying , though he stood at a respectful distance he was still a moderately tall man so from where I was sprawled out on the grass he was practically looming over me.

"Mr. Jefferson! -Y-you scared me..." I inhaled sharply and propped myself up on my elbows.

"I'm sorry Max, that wasn't my intention. Though I must Ask why you're laying on the ground in the dark...please tell me you haven't been asleep here the whole night..." He ran a hand through his hair tiredly as he looked down at me.

"No sir, I was volunteered to help out with the vortex clubs party preparations, courtesy of Victoria Chase- I just finished and Victoria was still working so I thought I'd take the opportunity to have a timeout and be away from people before going back to my room..." I looked down his shoes, "I just needed a moment to myself and then I'll go back I swear..."

"You're not in trouble max so you needn't look so Anxious, I can understand the need to have a moment alone. And Victoria is quite the handful during more normal school hours, I can only imagine how she must be having to be up and about at almost five fifty in the morning, you have my condolences." He took a sip from the mug he held in one hand before continuing, "Although as long as you're here...I do have one more question, unless you need some more time to yourself, then we can continue this discussion later."

With a yawn I waved him on, "I'm fine...I think...what's the question?..."

"The every day Heroes contest?...I'm not about to make you to enter a photo, you can't force an artist to work. And with all that's happened with Kate...I can't imagine what the two of your are having to deal with right now. And if I haven't already said it, let me repeat myself, I am so proud of what you did for her, and before you start acting modest, no not just anyone here would have done that, I wish I could say otherwise. I'm sorry she ended up there to begin with."

I nodded, Kate hadn't deserved any of that. She was so nice, she never...she had never said anything cruel or insensitive to anybody, not even Nathan and Victoria and they had been so, so mean to her.

"I'm just glad she's safe and getting some help...I got to visit her yesterday, she's doing much better. She misses her bunny though. Maybe I could convince the nurses to let me bring her..."

"Given the reason she's in the care of those doctors, and the events leading up to that point, I'm sure they could make a small exception. It wouldn't hurt to ask. Sometimes animals can have a better healing effect than people or medicine alone...though all three together would be ideal."

Shifting his weight from one foot to the other, Jefferson continued "In regards to the video involving Kate those responsible will have to be held accountable for their actions to some extent, if that gives you any peace of mind, though I can't be sure what that will be at this time."

At least that's something, all changes have to start somewhere.

"About the every day heroes contest, I don't know if anything I could take would be good enough and everyone else is so much more...I don't know? More suited for it? They're social butterflies and wallflowers aren't really known for being in the spotlight. Besides I think most of my photos are made up of animals and Selfi- I mean, self portraits."

Mr. Jefferson shifted again, sighed then proceeded to walk around side me and sit down next to me, his sudden presence next to me startled me but I didn't make a move to move or get away nor speak, well I did sit up but only that. After stretching out his legs tiredly and downing the rest of the contents of his mug, which was set aside on the grass, Jefferson finally spoke. "I appreciate your use of the correct term for that particular type of photograph. And you are far too modest, Max, you are just as talented as any other student and if you so choose to participate, deserve to win just as much as any of my students."

Trying to think of some way to steer away from this particular conversation I looked down at my camera and an idea popped into my head. Scooping it up in my hands and gently placing it on my lap, I looked up at my teacher, "Mr. Jefferson? Can I take your picture?..."

The look on his face was pretty priceless, I'm not sure I had seen him look so surprised before..."I'm sure you can find far better subjects than I to photograph, Besides your selfie quota would be disrupted."

"Nobody ever said you have to take a picture alone, plenty of self portraits nowadays have more than one person. Please? It'll be fun..." My puppy eyes were pretty Rusty but I tried anyway, my pleading look probably would have been more convincing if I used it on Chloe or Warren.

Jefferson looked up at the sky briefly then back to me and sighed, I flicked my eyes skyward to see the sun finally start peaking itself over the tops of the trees, but refocused on my Teacher.

"Alright, you got me...how can I deny that face?..."

Something about the way he said that made me shiver but I brushed it off as the cold morning air, Rustling through my hoodie. I gave him a nod and smiled and held out my camera as I tried to get a good angle but my arms were too short to fit both myself and someone as tall as Mark Jefferson, I let out a little huff of frustration.

"May I?" Jefferson held out a hand and pointed at the camera, I carefully gave it to him and he proceeded to hold it out and position it into a perfect spot, meanwhile I was mumbling and pouting and complaining quietly about how my arms were too short.

"You're perfectly fine the way you are, I'm probably just too tall..." He paused before continuing, his voice coming out soft, "A smile suits you so much better than that frown..."

I could feel my cheeks heat up ever so slightly, at that remark.

"Ready?"

"As ever..." I gave a sheepish smile and looked towards the camera, a moment later there was a flash and we were both trying to blink away the spots that now slightly obscured our vision.

With his free hand Mr. Jefferson handed the camera back over to me, careful not to touch the now developing picture, before retracting his hand to remove his glasses and fervently rubbed at his eyes.

"I'm sorry Mr. Jefferson I didn't think it would be so bright...though we have been sitting in the dark for awhile..." I trailed off as I looked up from the camera as I saw Jefferson had his eyes closed and his head was leaning back against the wall, his glasses tucked safely away in a pocket.

The hipster looked surprisingly peaceful and despite myself I couldn't help but admire his profile in the low morning light, he really was handsome and without his glasses he now looked significantly younger, "Seeing spots but otherwise I'm fine...how's your picture?"

Looking down I noticed it had finally finished doing its thing and carefully took it by an edge and held it up to him, "Awesome, wanna see?...or wait, do you need your glasses to see?"

"I can see without them if that's what you asking, though I'm nearsighted to some extent so I Don't trust myself to go running around in the woods at night or down a flight of stairs..." After looking over the photo for a few minutes Jefferson handed it back with a nod of approval and retrieved his mug before standing and brushing off his Pants.

"Well I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me, Max, however I was sent here for a reason and I must attend to that, I would Hope Hayden's kept everything running smoothly with the set up for the party tonight but if what I saw earlier was any indication I think insomnia may get the Better of some of your peers and a few of the faculty, myself included and I don't want to risk any Accidents...whoever thought it was a wise Idea to hook up speakers and trail electrical cords all around a pool was missing more than just sleep." That last part came out very irritated.

Sliding his glasses back on, he gestured at me "Max, you have a little bit of grass on you..."

I frowned and reached up to feel my head only to draw back my hand with some grass clippings, I flailed around and swatted at myself, freeing myself from the pesky little grass blades and once again felt my face heating up in embarrassment.

"Great, I manage to look like a total dork regardless of what I'm doing..."

Jefferson offered his hand, which I hesitantly took and was pulled to my feet. I brushed myself off one last time, making sure I got all the grass off of me, I didn't need another reason for Victoria to tease me.

"I don't know about that, Maxine..."

A pang of annoyance made me look up to correct him but I paused when I saw him smirking at me, his voice took on a more sensual tone as he continued, "I think that shade of red fits you quite nicely."

I could literally feel my face gradually reaching the heat of the surface of the sun.

His thumb briefly ghosted over the back of my hand before he released it and made direct eye contact with me, "Beautiful."

With that, Jefferson turned and began walking away, throwing a hand up over his shoulder in a gesture of farewell, "I hope you enjoy the rest of your morning, Ms. Caulfield, be seeing you."

And then my face burst into flames.


End file.
